Tuesday 30 December 2008

a bit of trauma

when we first got our sam, he found all cars, but especially big ones, traumatic. after walks along the traffic-free river, we moved to nearly deserted night streets, then residential areas, and then, eventually, long walks by continuous traffic, such as in the road we live by.

all in all, a successful treatment. sam no longer thinks traffic is a big deal. then, the week before christmas, we open the door to carollers -- one fairly bad caroller, actually -- and before anyone can stop him, he has streaked out of the door, and right onto the road. into traffic.

a car breaks but sam is hit midleap, in the middle of the pedestrian crossing. everything is awful. the husband tries to keep him from running into more cars, i try to get him into the house. onlookers try to give advice, the car driver tries to take the blame, while sam refuses to move and turns into a wriggly, biting beast. well, at least he's not paralysed. bleeding from our hands, we finally manage to get him onto a chain and lure him into the house, where he slinks away, once again a traumatised dog.

luckily for us, the driver did break on time, and sam's injuries are mainly external. our wounds are deeper, but are healing now. and sam, oddly enough, is still confident about traffic. we're developing a strict routine of him always sitting down before we go outside, and will be looking into gates and fences for the forecourt.

Monday 15 December 2008

new skills

sam is a very clever dog, quickly getting the hang of new commands. this may have lead me to progressing too fast, so that many of the commands don't become firmly established or he gets them mixed up. i'm backing off a little, training the important stuff, recall and silence, much more slowly. today, we got him to be quiet for a short while when tied up at the playground, and to come back on a lead when walking by the river. hooray!

but one ability which sam has picked up and developed is playing with toys. when he first got his pink squeaky ball, he would chase it a little, but shortly afterwards it would end up under the sofa. now he leaps, pounces, throws it in the air and chases it around the room, before lying down to gnaw on it, emitting happy squeaks. i think he really got the point after we bought him a pig that goes "onk".

Wednesday 10 December 2008

good pooch!

or actually, poo.
warning...
keep post out of contact with food.

i never thought i'd be this happy to pick up a pile of poo. after three weeks of liquid and semi-solid products, sam today properly shaped lumps with what looked like pieces of wood in them. maybe he's been lacking in fibre? anyway, the vet's cure seems to be working. hurrah!

Tuesday 9 December 2008

teaching a new dog old tricks

i taught sam a trick! one of the simplest in the book, namely "put paw on hand where treat is", but it's still quite amazing to see how fast he got it and how happy it made us both.

in other news, he's still not very good to leave alone at home. today, i'd made the leash a bit too long and he'd managed to reach and overturn a shelf full of stuff. this was the same shelf my daughter climbed on and overturned a week ago. maybe i simply need heavier furniture?

Wednesday 3 December 2008

home alone

the first time we left sam alone at home for an extended time period, he howled and made a mess (in a neat pile). and the second time. the third time, he only made a puddle. today, he made a puddle as well, but only by upsetting his water bowl. progress is such a sweet experience.

the hubby even talked approvingly of getting another dog ("an older, more sedate female who can teach sam some manners" -- yeah, right!). more fuel for my dreams!

Tuesday 2 December 2008

sam...

sam showing off
my northern snow dog.

the bitter pill

so, nice mr. vet gave sam a course of antibiotics and three deworming tablets. after i arrived home, i tried giving the antibiotics to him by placing them in his dry food. the hungry dog was suddenly totally uninterested in dry food. i then alternately tried tricking him to eat them along with some treats ("schmackos"), or shoving them down his gob (luckily, in this case, he doesn't know the meaning of biting). howling like in the nether circles of dog hell and strong rabbit behaviour, i.e. wriggling away and running off fast, ensued. it took a good while before he would come back in from the garden, even the wellbeloved schmackos didn't tempt.

this put me in a bout of despair, until i realised a bit later that the pills could be crushed and mixed with a nice meat mash we had in store. this time, the bowl was licked clean of food and medicine.

that still left the dewormers. these tablets seemed bigger, and i didn't have that much mash to mix with. what to do? the vet had said i might be able to give them directly, and the package did say something about "flavour". so i tried with one. the dog, no longer suspicious of my feeding intentions, sniffed, licked, and gobbled it up like candy. the second tablet went down fast as well. by the third one, sam had lost interest, repeatedly "losing" it and only sniffing at it when it lay on the floor. i steeled myself, and forced it into his mouth as gently as i could. it disappeared. the deed was done.

that only leaves a lot of grinding and mashing (but hopefully no gnashing) over the nex few days...

Monday 1 December 2008

old haunts

i took sam on a long walk back to the rspca today. not "back" as in we're giving him up -- heaven forbid! -- but to have their vet see him, because of his little pooblem. we got deworming pills and a prescription for antibiotics, so now whatever is being mean to his tummy should be very afraid. that is, if we successfully get him to eat the pills.

the nice staff at the rescue centre were, of course, pleased to see sam, and to hear that he and we were settling well with each other. what was even cooler was that when we left the centre, a cute enforcement officer, or whatever they're called, peeked out from his car and asked if that was an inuit dog. i replied in the affirmative. he asked if we'd gotten it from the centre. yup. it turned out he was the one who rescued the dog. apparently, sam had been left behind by a breeder who got into some trouble. it was good to get a fuller picture of his history -- i'd imagined him being left somewhere tied to a fence, which for this people-loving animal would have been a disaster of great magnitude. i mean, just leaving him to enter a shop for a few minutes has him howling to the heavens.

we then went to the nearby vet to pick up sam's antibiotics. as soon as the receptionist saw us, she exclaimed "is that the one that just was here with the rspca?"

it seems we got ourselves an unforgettable dog. except by certain breeders, that is.